


What’s the proper way to apologize?

by NotaDelicateDaisy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Family, Awesome Wanda Maximoff, Gen, Hurt and comfort, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Pre-Wanda Maximoff/Vision, Wanda Maximoff & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug, civil war will not be happening and Thanos ain’t coming either in this fic, what wasn’t shown on screen between films and I wish was
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 14:36:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19211446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotaDelicateDaisy/pseuds/NotaDelicateDaisy
Summary: Wanda is living in a new home, in a new country, with a whole lot of regrets. She knows she has done many wrongs in the past but she hopes that like the other avengers she will be able to make up for her mistakes. It will just take time, trust, and a whole lot of baking.





	What’s the proper way to apologize?

It had been two weeks since Ultron.

Two long weeks since Wanda’s world fell apart.

It felt like years to her.

The clock that was placed in her bare room long gone, the tick-tocking was as loud as her heartbeat in the silent room, it had to go. A few of the avengers would stop by and check on her every once and a while, she never understood why. They should be angry, they should hate her, she knows it was all her fault.

**The captain.**

“ _Steve_ ” he tells her to call him, she just nods in response. He comes in her room every day at 3:30, a half an hour after his training with Sam ends. He runs like Clockwork. Sam seems sweet from what Wanda could tell, He flew by her window once and waved, he may be an avenger by now, she is not sure. He wasn’t at any of the battles she was apart of. Steve normally comes in her room with a cup of tea and an American treat for her to try. Sweets aren’t something new to her, but she isn’t used to them in such abundance. After her parents death, she and her brother didn’t have money for extra indulgences, staying alive came first. Pietro did steal a sugared bun for their birthday once. The memory of the two of them huddled together in an ally enjoying their treat and singing to one another is one she enjoys to recall. Of course at Hydra there was no time for songs or sugared snacks, they were experiments, their days consisted of pain and enough bland food to keep them alive. She feels guilty tasting all of the glutinous goodness America has to offer, but she would feel worse letting the captain down. He’s been so kind. He is the one who talks, Wanda always stays silent. The subject of Steve’s one-way conversations change, from stories of his childhood and the war, to remarks on his favorite new film and his love of dollar slices.

Neither one expected today to be much different.

As Steve carried in his usual tray of two mugs of tea and matching slices of Boston Crème pie, he knew something was off. Wanda normally seemed sad, as was expected, but today he could not help but notice the anger that was radiating off the her. The red at her finger tips. The others believed that it was only a matter of time until Wanda blew up, until her grief and anger over her brother’s death got to her and she exploded.No matter how many times he and Clint tried to tell the others not to worry, things were not changing.

Wanda watched as the captain entered the room with his usual half-smile and a cheerful yet calm “Good afternoon” The moment Steve sat down on the bed the unexpected happened.

“ _I’m sorry!_ ”

Wanda did not even notice her voice leaving her body. Steve’s eyes flashed up from the tea he was watching slosh back and forth in his cup. “ _It’s ok_ ”

_“No, it is not! I invaded your mind, I set off the hulk, Ultron was my fault. Yet you bring me food and try to get me to smile, you should hate me! You should have locked me up when…._ ”

_“Stop_ ” Wanda looks Steve in the eyes not seeing the anger she expects but instead kindness and sadness, she wishes she could look into his mind to see what he was thinking but she promised she would not do that anymore.  Steve stared as hard as he could into Wanda’s eyes, hoping that the young woman could understand that he was not speaking just to comfort her but because he truly believed it. _“Ultron was not your fault; your brother’s death was not your fault”_

_“_ _Yes! It was!”_

_“_ _No, it was not! You showed us our worst nightmares, we did with that what we did. Tony made the choice himself to build an AI using the stone….”_

_“Which I gave him”_ Wanda could not grasp why the captain would defend her, after all she did.

_“But you did not know what it could do. No one did. You had no idea that allowing Tony to take that scepter would result in a murderous robot, and don’t you dare try to say that you helped! You were at war with us, you did what you believed that you needed to do to protect your country.”_

Wanda could not help but roll her eyes _“Yeah did a great job of protecting it_ ” Steve could not help but smile seeing a little bit of her personality come through, seeing that same quick-witted kid from before.

“ _Blaming yourself is not going to get you anywhere, Pietro dying was not your fault, Sokovias destruction was not your fault, Ultron was not your fault! You need to understand that kid.”_

_“I’m not kid!_ ” what Steve said got her thinking, sitting here feeling bad for herself is not going to help her make amends, she needs to do something more.

Steve smiled, _“You’re nineteen, I’m in my nineties. You are young enough to be my grandchild or possibly even great grandchild.”_ Wanda smiled for a split second but that was enough for Steve, _“We are similar you know, we both got our “abilities” from experiments to protect our country.”_

_“You fought Nazis, I joined them. I thought that joining “Shield” would allow me to end the Avengers and save my country from any future harm. To make sure other kids did not grow up like I did. Instead I joined Nazis, gained destructive powers, and went on a revenge trip ending in the death of my other half and destruction of my home. You are a hero, I am the bad guy”_

_“You are not evil Wanda, you may have made bad decisions, but that does not mean that you are”_

Wanda still could not wrap her head around it, how could he be so kind to her. _“Why don’t you hate me? I hated you all these years, I have fantasized your deaths. How could you walk in here and be nice to me?”_

_"Because I understand why”_ Steve paused for a second and looked over at Wanda, _“You did what you believed you needed to do, I could never blame you for that. You may not have done it the best way, you many have made mistakes along the way. But you were protecting the people and the place that you love, and I believe that is honorable.”_

Wanda quickly wiped the single tear that fell down her face away, for two weeks she had been convincing herself that everything was her fault. That she could have stopped it all from happening. That she deserved to be tortured and thrown into a prison, and that eventually the avengers would give up the nice act and do exactly that. But the captain disagrees, he doesn’t hate her, he understands her.

Steve. She could get used to having him around, he is kind to her and brings her sweets, he may become a friend. Wanda hopes he does.

_“Thank you”_

Steve is quiet for a moment, but he sees unshed tears pooling in her eyes and without thinking pulls her close into his chest and holds her while she sobs out her guilt. She seems so much younger than before, the reality that even though Wanda could defeat any Avenger with little effort, she truly is just a lost kid, with no one left to lean on dawns on him. Steve vows to himself that after today that will change, if he must drag her out of the room to make her interact with the others he will. When he woke up he was alone, and scared, had no idea where to turn, the team became his family, people who he relies on and loves. He wants that for her.

They sat there for a while, even after Wanda stopped crying, just listening to the sounds around them, Wanda finding comfort in someone wrapping their arms around her again, even if it was not who she wished it was.

Wanda dried her face on her sleeve, _“Sorry”_

_“No more apologizing, especially not for needing someone, harboring all those emotions inside of you is not going to do anything besides force you to self-destruct. Remember if you need anything whether it’s a hug or you just want to watch a movie, I’m here, Clint will be here for a few more days, but even when he leaves he will only be a phone call away. Sam has been dying to meet you. The team is here for you Wanda. Clint was not lying when he said you were now an Avenger. You and Pietro are now members of this dysfunctional family, and we protect our family, even from themselves”._

Family, Wanda had not had one of those in a while.

It had been her and Pietro for so long, sometimes they would meet others on the streets, but they ultimately decided they could only trust each other. _“You are twins”_ Their mother used to say, _“Each one half of a whole, God put you together to help each other out, to protect one another from anything that may cause you harm, and to always love each other no matter what happens”._

Losing Pietro was losing that support system, losing the last of her family, but maybe she has earned a new one. She knows some are afraid and angry, the way the Widow glares at her when she leaves her room to refill her canister of water, the way Tony’s friend, the soldier, steps back quickly and stares at her like he is ready to flee when she walks by. It is understandable, Wanda does not expect any different, but she hopes to change their minds.

_"I lost someone too you know, not exactly the same but he was mine. Bucky. He was always there for me no matter what, protected me from everything around me. When I lost my parents, he was there, always believing in me. I thought I lost him for a long time. Ends up Hydra captured him and brain washed him into being an assassin, I hope I get him back, not just for me but to help him, like he helped me all those years"._

_"I hope you do too"_.

Wanda understands that she will never get Pietro back. He is gone, just like everyone else in her life, but she hopes Bucky comes back for Steve. He has been mentioned before, Steve's eyes always lighting up when describing his best friend.

Maybe if she works on her powers, she could use them to help him when he comes. That would be a great way to make amends with Steve, especially with all he is currently doing for her.

“It’s dinner time, are you actually going to come out tonight? Sam ordered Chinese food for us, it may help you start to make amends if you come. You do not have to talk or anything, just sit and eat, show that you are trying to change and be a part of the group. I’ll see you out there if you do.”

As Steve gave Wanda one last pat on the back and began to exit the room he truly did not expect an answer. “Save me a seat between you and Sam please, that way I can sort-of be a part of a conversation without making the others uncomfortable”.

Steve turned around and smiled at Wanda, “Of course, I’ll make sure you are across from Clint, so you can talk to him too, see you soon”.

As Wanda watched the door close, she knew what she had to do. Simply apologizing would not be enough, she must take action to show that she is changing. But apologizing is a great place to start, and she knew who she had to speak to next, someone who is blaming themselves as much as she is, someone who she really needs to talk with to work out their differences if she is ever truly going to be a part of this team.

**Stark.**

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this over a year and a half ago, I am currently planning a completely different fic but I am hoping to get back into this one. This was written and edited by me so all mistakes are my own, feel free to give your opinion down below as long as it’s in a constructive manor.


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